LTZmiBA
6
The Commoner.
VOLUME 5, NUMBER
United Slates the island of Puerto nico, together
with the Philippine Islands and the Island ol
Guam In the Ladrones, the United States paying
to Spain $20,000,000. Under the constitution trea
ties aro made a part of the supremo aw of the
land and they have a legal status slmi ar to that
of contracts. Numerous treaties have been made
with the Indians."
AFTER four hours' deliberation, February 11,
the proceedings marked by caustic criticism
of Mr. Roosevelt's course, the senate ratified with
amendments ten international arbitration treaties.
Tho word "agreement" as used in Article II was
changed to the word "treaty." The vote on this
amendment was 50 to 9. Those voting in opposi
tion to tho substitution of the word, but in "no
with tho wishes of the president, were: Dolliver
(Rep. la.), Fairbanks (Rep. Ind.), Hopkins (Rep.
111.), McGumbcr (Rep. N. D.), Nelson (Rep. Minn.),
Piatt (Rep. Conn.), Stewart (Rep. Nev.), Warren
(Hop. Wyo.), Wotmoro (Rep. R. I.). Those voting
for the amondment an in opposition to the presi
dent's wishes as specifically set forth in a letter
which Mr. Roosevelt sent to Mr. Cullom, chairman
of the foroign relations committee, were: Messrs.
Algor, Allison, Ankeny, Bacon, Bailey, Bard, Bate,
Berry Beveridgc, Blackburn, Burnham, Burrows,
Carmack, Clark (Mont.), Clay, Culberson, Cullom,
Daniel, Dick, Dillingham, Dry den, Foraker, Fos
ter (La.), Foster (Wash.), Fulton, Gallinger, Gam
ble, Gorman, Hale, Hansbrough, Heyburn, Kean,
Kittredgc, Lodge, Long, McComas, McCreary, Mc
Laurln, Money, Morgan, Newlands, Overman,
Patterson, Scott, Smoot, S'pooner, Stone, Talia
ferro and Teller.
NEWSPAPER correspondents devoted extraor
dinary attention to the differences between
tho president and tho senate. The Washington
correspondent for the New York World, under
dato of February 12, says: "Other presidents have
had pot projects squelched by the senate, but no
president in this generation, the wiao men of the
upper house say, has ever been rebuked a3 Presi
dent Roosevelt was yesterday. That rebuke was
drastic, historic, caloric. Its effect was more no
ticeable today than last night. There are many
features manifest now that serve to emphasize the
firm determination of the senate to teach the
president a lesson. The executive sessions pre
ceding tho final vote aro described as the most
dramatic in tl.o memory of those who have been
senators for twenty years. Tho intensity of feel
ing, the earnestness of speech, the unanimity of
sentiment have not prevailed on any similar propo
sition since the war."
THE senators criticise the president because
ho addressed his communication to an indi
vidual senator rather than to the senate itself,
also because the president made the letter public
before it was delivered to the senate. There
soems to bo a disposition among the senators to
find fault with tho present president on many
Bubjects. It is claimed that while the Swayne im
peachment case was in progress, tho president
summoned to the white house a number of senators
and lectured them on the problems cf their duty
Tho Washington correspondent for the New York
World says: "This has grown to be a favorite
practice of the president, and the rank and file
of the senators do not like it. They feel that
such a course Implies that the majority of the
senators are like sheep and will follow leaders
without reference to what their honest convic
tions may be rn any pending public question."
"pOLONEL BILL" HACKNEY presided over
V the committee of the whole in the Kansas
house of representatives, February 9, and the in
foresting proceedings are related by the Toneka
correspondent for tho Kansas City Journal in this
way: 'It has been twenty-eight years since I
sat n this chair, said he. lt doesn't swell me m
a bit I have long sin-e discovered that most
anybody can preside over tho house in committee
of tho whole ' Just then some bill camo up which
Hackney didn't see much merit in. 'What will
you do with this fool bill?' he asked. The 7ool
bill was recommended for passase 'vn, L!
make less racket and do more" bSss, le shoS
to some members who were talking, The coiSmS
spied a couple of lobbyists working on , V?
of tho house. 'Wo will suspend business SJT
'until those lobbyists get their member i!
Someone made a motion that was rSr h
I don't understand the motion and T i? azy
else does either,' said Hackneyso fwll
now.' He did so and it carried. When the com
mittee arose and Hackney stepped from the chair
he said: 'Mr. Speaker as chairman of this outfit
(waving hi3 hand over the house) I make tho fol
lowing report.' The members rather enjoyed tho
colonel's way of running things."
RECENTLY Senator-elect Hemmenway of In
diana appeared on tho platform as a speaker,
iu company with the governor of his state. A
writer in the Philadelphia Enquirer, referring to
this incident, said: "When Hemmenway was work
ing in a livery stable across the street from the
place of meeting, the governor was digging a ditch
in front of it for a gas company. Minnesota has"
just elected a governor by au unprecedented ma
jority whose father was sent to the poor house as
a common drunkard when the potential governor
was 10 years old. Tho latter went to work at ?1
a week and increased his wages until it was pos
sible for him to get his mother to retire from
the washtub, since which he has supported her.
Massachusetts has just installed a governor who'
learned tho trade of cobbler as a small boy and
rose to high place in the manufacturing world by
industry and integrity. There are at present in
congress at least 100 men who began life under
apparently the most untoward circumstances and
have made their way in the world without the
benefit of higher education (unless secured by
their own efforts) and against what most persons
would consider normal chances of achieving dis
tinction. If it were necessary we could point out
many cases, in fact the majority jf those who
have achieved distinction, from Washington to
the present, have worked out their financial, moral
and intellectual and political salvation by industry,
energy and economy."
A BILL is pending in congress to extend suc
cession to the presidency to the new cabinet
oiheersthe secretary of agriculture and the sec
retary of commerce and labor. A writer in the
Kansas City Journal, referring to this measure
says: "In 1885 an act which sent the' line of suc
cession down nrough the cabinet was adopted.
It provides that upon the death or disability of
,hniiDi;ffi(ientan(i 7,ice President the succession
shall be to the cabinet officers in the order in
which their departments were created, commenc
ing, of course, with the secretary of state. At
the beginning of things congress fixed the succes
sion first in tin president pro tern of the senate
then in the speaker of the house. This law stood
for many years. It never solved any problem be-
andSGv ct6nnnhTene(1 tbat th e presTde'nt
Si? iT L? f ide,nt Were dead or incapacitated.
But it left the chance that The presidency mi-ht
pass to a party which had not carried the election
as, for instance, to the speaker of a democrat
house to succeed a republican president There
7oZXlZ CU0n t0 this law that had been
lounu in 1804 to the manner of choosine- tho in
president. As the constitution Snarly sto0d
each member of the electoral collece vZJ
rssr&.ss wrlter that
open. The Journal writepys-Th0 BtU1 left
provides that in case of ' 'removni , ?,r6Sent law
tion or inability of both T I ' .d,eath' resiena"
president, the secre ar of s tTK and vlco
dent until the disability of th n ?Ct as presi
presldent is removed or a m n J 'eSldent or vl
Who, asks the Outlook is V 71 is elect'
tion of inability, Sm iues
II the president-elect should dS w 1 5y ceases?
ration would the vice presidonf of ;e, hi3 lnauS
for tho term? If boto fhp ele,J be Patient
President-elect should dieC f ?nd vico
tion on whom would the succession f i naueu
cabinet officers of the outw n ,falI-on the
cabinet officer should suSVtfdent? If
won d he continue in office aurnf presidcy,
of the presidential term or won?! i'emainr
held to fill the office at once an election bo
held,wouldit be before theunlXDran ele?,tlo were
term or for a full term of fZrTaT n f thG
to these questions is not fount m le answer
tional provision or In anv a?t , anX constitu
book. While all of ttei Lal?on the statute
vice president. Why these questions have been
loft nnrm it is hard to say. Probably. hmvnVnw ,4
nnf fov nnv roiil reason, but
KimnW linnnn.. .
VUG U1UIO Ui 1COO Alty.yjr-fc,V-U.jr XOJUUUUl IU WfllCJl
we often treat important matters. A.nd now, that
a bill is pending on the question, it would be tho
part of good statesmanship to remove all doubt."
IT IS CLAIMED that there is marked growth of
the sentiment in New York city in favor of the
use of the rod in schools. The Newark, N. J
News says: "For several years past the discussion
over corporal punishment, in the New York board
of education has grown more and more heated, and
the rod party has become m'ore and more aggres
sive. At tho board's last meeting the committee
on elementary schools presented a majority and
a minority report, the latter recommending tho
restoration of corporal punishment. Four of the
committee favored it, and five were opposed to it.
After a lively discussion in the board the vote
taken on the minority report showed fifteen in
favor to twenty-two against. This in a compara
tively close vote. The conversion of only four
more members to the corporal punishment rule
would restore it to every school in New York city,
and this would unquestionably exert a powerful
influence in many cities and states in which moral
suasion does not meet all requirements. Ninety
per cent, it is formally stated, of all the principals
of the New York schools for boys favor the rod.
They argue that only four boys out of every 100
are bad enough to deserve corporal punishment,
but that the 9G others are entitled to protection
from the example set and the disorder caused by
those who are incorrigible without the use of the
rod. The strongest argument against the use of
the rod in schools is the one least considered; ils
effect upon the good children who are never in
danger of it. They think it may be their turn
next. They are in constant dread, and in their
mental unrest and distress they sometimes incur
tho very penalties they strive to avoid."
A PHILADELPHIA GROCER has adopted a
novel method of advertising his coffee. This
grocer has displayed a sign 'reading as follows:
"If one grain of our coffee was placed on the first
square of a checker boad, two on the second, four
on the third and so one, doubling throughout tho
whole 64 squares, the total number arrived at
?paU!?b Le 18446.744,073,551,615 coffee beans, or 7,
JbU,9l5,394,584,601 pounds of coffee. This would
represent 331,704,808,107 car loads, and a freight
train to cary it would be 3,967,841,4(50 miles in
length. It would reach around the earth 158,313
times and would extend 42 times the distance be
tween the earth and the sun. The quantity would
make 13,374,337,082,902,130 gallons of coffee and
JJSo? C?St at 28 cents a Pund $872,407,300,806,
rfJ7..o. if each person in the country drank three
cups daily it would take the entire population of
the United States 2,442,801 years to consume it."
DR. BROWN of the New York board of health
has brought upon himself considerable criti
cism by declaring "idiot children should be put in
tne dog pound and drowned." To a New York
World reporter, Dr. Brown said: "Every child with
the slightest deficiency receives a special exami-
";? If lie is blind or deaf e is sent to an in
stitution where that deficiency is given special
treatment and possibly cured. In like manner an
imbecile is often made into a useful citizen. But
lor the idiot there is absolutely no hope. When
it is found that he is too lar gone for a surgeon's
t fi ? ,elp' his life had better bo extinguished,
idiot children should be drowned. We would then
have more time and energy to spend on the chil
uren m whom there are possibilities of success.
nor the imbeciles who have less mental depravity
ana the weak-minded pupils we have the training
classes. In these a great deal of manual work
is, taugnt. The boys are trained to be expert
carpenters and the girls learn to cook and sew.
in another class we teach the 'slow.' This is
called the coaching class. Boy3 and girls in these
classes often make the best students and the big
gest successes in later years, but they are for somo
reason slow in comprehending. By separating
tnem from their classmates, the normal children
aF aowed to go ahead and learn as fast as they
Please. Then there is the unruly, lazy pupil who 'a
put in the disciplinary class. There are great
nopes for him when he wakes up and sees tho
useless trouble he has caused. Nevertheless, his
Place is not with the real student whoso ambition
is to lead his class. Already we have these various
classes in seventeen schools. Every month tho
eaPh" ar examIned and a new report made of
--Aiurmtmi2
